Michelle Cannon's blog asks: In the field of media education, to what extent can creative media production processes, with a particular emphasis on film production, develop young peoples' social, creative, cultural and critical engagement?

Jenkins ‘White Paper’ (Jenkins et al 2007) is largely celebratory in terms of the participatory opportunities of digital media and interestingly draws attention to the cost of non- progressive media education, that is one that fails to confront three challenges that seem to address who, what and why?:

The ParticipationGap – raising issues of (in)equality of access to technological skills and contemporary cultural repertoires

The TransparencyProblem – the need for adequate media literacy programming

The EthicsChallenge – problems associated with changes to current ethical standards and social hierarchies

Creative media production is no ‘silver bullet’ but its non-hierarchical and improvisatory processes are well placed to: wade through the ‘gap’, rather than bridge it; meddle under the bonnet of the ‘problem’, as well as appreciate the bodywork; tackle the ‘challenge’ by offering an engaging route to “decentre” (Buckingam, 2003:152), to appreciate other perspectives and to an awareness of complex online social mores through personal investment in and distribution of their own media texts.